EDMC plans to regularise illegal constructions

NEW DELHI: Home owners, who built their buildings illegally in east Delhi, may get some relief as the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) has proposed to regularise all such houses constructed till March 31, 2017.

The proposal was moved during the standing committee meeting on Friday.

However, there is a conflict over the kind of construction which can be extended the benefit under the EDMC proposal. Officials said only those properties that were built on approved plans may be considered for regularisation as per norms, but the political wing of the EDMC said that they will put all their efforts to ensure that the houses constructed with or without an approved plan will be regularised in the future.

“Properties that don’t have Mcd-approved building plans are illegal anyway. However, in cases where building plan is approved and some extensions were made later on, regularisation can be looked into according to the existing rules and regulations,” said Ranbir Singh, EDMC commissioner.

“About 70% of houses are con- structed illegally in east Delhi and it would be difficult to demolish them all so it would be better to regularise them now,” said Kanchan Maheswari, councillor from Kanti Nagar, who moved the proposal on Friday.

She said the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has already started working on Master Plan 2041 and it’s the right time to send the recommendations to the agency for incorporating the changes based on the requirement of area.

The civic agency is already facing severe financial constraints and the move is likely to increase its revenue collection that comes from property tax, said EDMC mayor Neema Bhagat.

“Not just that, it will give relief to the people living under the constant fear of facing demolition drive anytime. Though getting them regularised is a tedious process but we will put all effort to get it implemented,” she said.

There are 253 unauthorised colonies and 257 unauthorised regularised colonies in east Delhi and a majority of the houses in these neighbourhoods are not constructed as per building bylaws. “That’s why they avoid paying the property tax,” said Pravesh Sharma, standing committee chairman.

The sale and purchase of the houses constructed in unauthorised colonies are done unofficially. “This leads to major revenue loss to civic agency, as EDMC fails to get transfer duty from such houses,” said Maheshwari.

Commissioner Ranbir Singh, however, said that the power to approve regularisation of houses constructed in unauthorised colony rests with to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and is not in EDMC’S jurisdiction.

A similar proposal was moved by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation to legalise illegal constructions that came up till March this year.